Antifederalists

"THE OPPOSITION TO the constitution came from several sources,

although its core lay in the poorer and more democratically 

inclined sectors of the population. In New York, for example, 

considerable opposition came from wealthy and conservative 

landowners who feared the Constitutions republicanism and 

from those who savored the revenues drawn form goods arriving 

in New York's harbor and intended for eventual consumers in

New Jersey and Connecticut. Many opponents simply feared that

the creation of a powerful central government would threaten 

individual liberties much in the manner of the British 

authorities, whose rule had so recently been terminated. 

Others felt that the Federalists sought to gain economically 

from the institution of the new government; Charges were made 

then and later that the speculators were purchasing the worthless 

Revolutionary War bonds and other obligations at deflated prices 

in hopes that they would be redeemed in full by the government 

under the constitution."

Antifederalists are those who opposed the idea of detaching ourselves as a 

union away from Great Britain andestablishing ourselves as an independent 

nation. Antifederalists tend to be "poorer and more democratically inclined" 

people which is probably why they are so ignorant to change. They believed 

that an individuals rights would be minimized if there were ever a central 

government, just like Great Britain did. They also believed the federalists 

were self seeking and only wanted to help the rich instead of establishing 

more money for the people instead of for themselves.

The Federalists

"When the resolution for independence was finally voted in July 1776, 
however, a companion resolution for drafting a "plan of confederation"
was made and a committee appointed to draw it up. Chaired by Franklin's
friend John Dickinson, the committee began with the draft that Franklin
had offered that year before, and on July 12,1776. Dickinson presented 
a revised "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union" for 
consideration. Reflecting the spirit of the times, the document that 
emerged called for strictly limited government with no executive or 
judiciary and a single legislative chamber in which all the newly 
independent states would have equal votes, as they had had in the 
Continental Congress; in other major respects it conformed to the
earlier draft."

Through what seemed to be a long process Franklins revised "Articles of 

Confederation and Perpetual Union" was taken into consideration to become 

the basis of government. As it was being considered it became clear that 

the state was given more power than Congress and had no executive or 

judicial branches, which proposed a huge problem for the futre of the 

Union. After about six years of delegation and revisions the Articles of 

Confederation was ratified in 1781 a basis of the government throughout 

the revolutionary war and post war. In 1788 the constitution replaced the 

Articles of Confederation because it had a more complete basis of 

government for the "Union".

The Early Radicals

"All persons born in the British American colonies are by the laws of God and nature and by the 

Common law of England, exclusive of all charters of the crown, well Entitled, and by the Acts of

the British Parliament are declared to be entitled to all the natural essential, inherent & 

inseparable Rights Liberties and Privileges of Subjects born in Great Britain, or within the Realm. 

Among those Rights are the following; which no men or body of men, consistently with their own 

rights as men and citizens or members of society, can for themselves give up or take away from 

others."

The rights of the British American colonists are to those born in Great Britain or with in its 

property as their natural law and no one can be denied their natural rights. The legeslative 

can not interfere with apersons life or money. If a persons property must be taken away it 

may not be done without their consent. No matter the economic status of the person 

these laws apply to all born in the lands of Great Britain.

The Puritans

           "...concerning liberty, I observe a great mistake in the country about that. 
There is a  twofold liberty, natural (I mean as our natural is now corrupt) 
and civil or federal. The first is common to man with beast and other 
creatures.by this, man, as he stands in relation to man simply, hath liberty
to do what he lists; it is a liberty to evil as well as to good."

This passage from John Winthrop's journal, The Little Speech (1639), speaks 

directly on how he feels towards natural liberty. He believed that we as humans,

our natural instincts are to be born evil and to live as brutes. He believed that our 

"natural behavior (natural liberty)" can be curbed by establishing common laws 

or rules (civil liberties). He also states that our natural liberty is what makes us act 

like animals while civil liberties are what keeps us from acting like brutes and we 

follow them not because we are forced to, but because we are free to do so.